Are All Huntresses Lesbians?
by Sinisterhug
Summary: Probably not, but it can't hurt to pretend. A collection of one-shots centered on f/f pairings. Fourth Story: May x Lots of ladies.
1. Proper Weapon Care and Maintenance

**Index:**

**Proper Weapon Care and Maintenance, Ruby x Penny**

**Ice Cream Social, Yang x Neo**

**The Woman in Crimson, Glynda x Cinder**

**The Morning After, May x NDGO and RWBY**

**A/N: If you know me, then you know I hate having tons of one shots around, so here's a compilation of one shots– all ladies loving ladies of course. First up is Dolts and bolts, or nuts and dolts, whatever you want to call it. Warning: Spoilers up to V2E3 (but if you didn't know, really?)  
**

Proper Weapon Care and Maintenance

Ruby couldn't help but smile as she looked down at the sheet in front of her. She was sitting cross-legged in the middle of her dorm room, performing her daily ritual. It was how she relaxed herself– calmed herself. But that wasn't why she did it. This was an act of love.

She loved every piece and part of Crescent Rose, her pride and joy. The weapon was her life. So everyday, while everyone else was out of the room, Ruby disassembled and cleaned her.

Normally, there wasn't a soul around when she did this. She couldn't stand letting anyone see Crescent Rose like this– all exposed and vulnerable. This was supposed to be for her eyes only. So she memorized her teammate's schedules so she could get some nice alone time with her weapon.

"Salutations, friend!" A voice suddenly called as her door slammed open.

"Penny!?" Ruby responded, trying to cover up as much of Crescent Rose as she could. At least her internals.

"Oh my," the girl said, covering her mouth. "What are you doing?"

"I was just cleaning my weapon." Ruby smiled up at the girl, her eyes darting around. "In private."

"Maybe I should go," Penny said, shocking Ruby a little. The girl– android?– had never been able to take a hint before. She had only seen the girl look this hesitant when she was scared to reveal her secret.

The redhead hesitated a moment. "No, no, you can stay if you want." Ruby wasn't really sure about having someone watch her clean her weapon, but she wanted to spend a little more time with the mysterious girl. "It's just a bit of routine maintenance. Maybe once I'm done we can hang out. Go shopping or something, maybe get some– food?" She wasn't sure if the android even ate human food. She gave a little nervous laugh and rubbed the back of her head.

Penny walked into the room and sat at the other side of the sheet. Ruby watched as her green eyes scanned over every little piece of her Crescent Rose. The eyes seemed overly invasive; they focused and bore into the disassembled pieces. "You do this every day?"

Ruby nodded, reaching behind herself and grabbing a clean cloth and a little bottle. With quick hands, she doused the cloth and began to wipe away some dirt that had built up in her last training session. "Yes, I need to keep her in fighting shape."

"Combat ready."

"Exactly." Ruby smiled, her deft hands continuing to remove every single molecule of grime and gunpowder from her weapon.

"Yeah– clean that firing pin," Penny said under her breath.

"What?"

"Nothing."

Ruby raised an eyebrow at Penny's little hiccup. Penny was acting so strange today. Strange as in deviation from her normal weirdness.

"You seem to know what you're doing," Penny deadpanned.

The tone sounded odd in Ruby's ears. Even though Penny wasn't really human, her voice always inflected– almost too much. Ruby glanced up at Penny and noticed that the girl had achieved an awkward perfect stillness. There was always and odd robotic precision to Penny's movements, but even so she had never become inanimate before.

"Yes, I do this every day. I have every single part memorized and I know exactly what I need to do. I could do this blindfolded."

"Blindfolded?" Penny squeaked.

"Yeah, I've trained at it since I was a child. It's part of caring for a weapon," Ruby said, moving on to her next piece.

"You must care for this weapon dearly."

"Her name is Crescent Rose, she's my sweetheart. I built her myself. Materials, fabrication, construction; I did it all. I love her."

"Her? So– you enjoy female weapons?" Penny asked.

Ruby glanced up and found that Penny had leaned in and was staring intently into her eyes. It was always a little frightening when Penny got a little too intense. "I guess. I never thought about it, she just seemed like a she."

"I see," Penny said, leaning back. "You sure are gentle with her."

"Huh?"

"When I have maintenance performed, it's done roughly. My internals are blasted with a cleansing solvent. I am disassembled by automated machines and each piece is run through the equivalent of a car wash."

"Oh." Ruby tilted back and talked somewhat out of the side of her mouth. She wasn't really sure how to respond to that. "That sounds– painful?"

"It is. But I'm made of advanced military grade materials and I have been reassured that I can withstand far more than what they do. All my parts have been stress tested and have life cycles of over a million activations."

"Wow, that's a lot. Do you know what sort of metals they use for your joints?"

"I think I'd prefer it if we get to know each other better before talking about that."

"I see, I guess it's classified. But that's pretty cool. I know I could be a little rougher with Crescent Rose. She's metal and, sure, she's built tough, but I guess I don't feel great doing that. She deserves better, you know?"

"Yes. That is–," Penny hesitated, shifting her legs a little beneath her, "that is very kind of you."

Ruby smiled, happy that she was getting to know this odd girl a little better. Everyone else thought it was a mistake to even associate with her, but she was so interesting. Especially her armaments; the girl was chocked full of extremely cool, high powered weaponry. There wasn't anything Ruby loved more than weapons.

With practiced hands, she lifted up the rod that she used to clean Crescent Rose's barrel. Ruby heard another squeak from the other side of sheet as she slotted a clean patch into it.

She lifted Crescent Rose's barrel and slowly slid the cleaning rod in. Her eyes lifted and watched Penny. The girl's eyes were glued to part resting in Ruby's hand. Every inch seemed to send a shiver up Penny's spine.

When the rod got to the end, she reached down and pulled the cloth out before withdrawing the rod carefully. She knew she didn't need to keep it from touching the barrel, but she always did anyway. It was just something special for her favorite gun.

"Sensational," Penny whispered.

"Umm, are you alright?" Ruby asked, watching the girl who had started to take short, shallow breaths. She didn't even know if Penny actually needed air.

"I am fantastic. You sure are skilled at that," the girl responded, finally speaking in her normal volume.

"I guess so." Ruby continued to stare at Penny. The girl always acted weird, but she was acting exceptionally strange today.

"I know this is very forward, and it's so wrong to ask while you are working on another girl, but could you– could you perform maintenance on me?"

Ruby raised an eyebrow at that. "What?"

"I am sorry, I understand if you want to be exclusive with Crescent Rose. But your hands are so gentle, and you're so sweet with her, I just had to ask."

Ruby thought about what the girl was saying. Then she thought about how the girl had been acting. Then her mind went blank for about five seconds.

This time it was Ruby who had to squeak. "Oh. Ohmygod. It was– to you– this is–," Ruby covered her blushing face with her hands.

Penny had circled around the sheet in those moments while Ruby wasn't fully conscious. After a few moments of indistinct blubbering from the redheaded girl, Penny touched her on the shoulder.

"Is that a no?"

Ruby let her fingers split and stared at Penny out the corner of her eye. She'd be lying if she said that she didn't want to see what made the girl tick– literally. But it would be so embarrassing since, apparently, it was something very intimate to Penny. She had never thought of the way she cleaned Crescent Rose in that particular way.

"I guess I can try."

* * *

Yang jogged past Weiss as they headed for the room. "I'm sure Ruby's bouncing off the walls. Bet she has something fun planned."

"Something that you won't be a part of. If you don't keep studying you're going to fail."

Yang paused as Weiss strode past her calmly. "Aww come on, we spent the whole day in the library."

"It doesn't matter, you're so far behind that you're still going to fail," Weiss opened the door and then stopped in her tracks.

Her team leader had a naked girl lying on the floor. The moaning was so soft Weiss hadn't noticed from outside. Ruby pulled her hands out of the other girl's chest and stared at Weiss. "This isn't what it looks like."

Weiss stared at Ruby for a moment, then turned to Yang, who looked just as confused as she did. "I don't even know what this looks like."

"Salutations, Weiss!" Penny nearly shouted, sitting up off of the ground.

"Whoa." Ruby did her best to keep some loose components from falling out.

Penny turned and smiled at her. "Thank you, friend." The android looked over to Weiss. "Ruby was just cleaning my internals. It feels wonderful."

"What–,"

"Aww, my baby sis is becoming an adult. I think."

"No it's just– well, it sort of is, but not really. See, I was cleaning Crescent Rose and she showed up, and one thing led to another, and–,"

"I'm leaving," Weiss interrupted, turning and walking away from the door.

Yang hesitated, then picked up one of Penny's socks and hung it on the door. "I'll get out of your hair. You kids have fun."

"Are you going to finish?" Penny asked with a smile.

Ruby let out a deflated sigh as the door slammed shut. "Yeah."


	2. Ice Cream Social

Ice Cream Social

Yang took several deep heaving breaths, her finger nails digging into her leather gloves as she weakly lifted her fists. Every muscle in her body was sore and her upper back was sporting a bruise where she kept getting hit every time her attacks were evaded.

This little trip to a nightclub was just supposed to be a chance to unwind. A short, busty girl had caught Yang's eye, but when she tapped on her shoulder everything went south. Their fight had quickly cleared the bar.

Neo gave her a nonplussed smirk– and it pissed Yang off. What should have been a fiery blaze was a wisp of smoke. She glanced down to the scroll mounted on Ember Celica. Her aura was nearly gone; she didn't have enough to fuel her semblance. She could only mount one more attack. Yang growled and shot forward with reckless abandon.

A brief feeling of relief washed over Yang as the hit actually connected with the shorter girl's cheek. At least until said cheek shattered like glass.

_'Well shit,' _was the last thought she had before something struck her on the back of the neck.

* * *

Yang's eyes slowly slid open as she drifted back into consciousness. She immediately began to take stock of her situation. Mouth: Dry. Hands: Tied. Feet: Bare. That seemed strange. She wriggled her body, then glanced down at the coil of ropes around her stomach.

She sighed, shaking away the last vestiges of her grogginess. Her eyes finally became focused. The constant tilting came to a stop and the soft outlines hardened into actual objects.

Yang was sitting at a table. On that table were plates of assorted pastries and cookies and near edge was Ember Celica. Her eyes settled on a glass bowl with a hot fudge sundae set next to her. Then Yang glanced up at Neo, who was sitting across from her with a bright smile.

"Uh– what's the scoop here?"

Yang flinched when Neo's expression became sinister. The woman stood up and circled around to Yang's side. Her fingers ghosted along the tablecloth until they curled around a silver spoon. She took a bit of ice cream out of the bowl. Neo pressed it towards Yang's mouth.

The blonde girl sealed her lips tight, making the smirk fall off of Neo's face. Yang followed the criminal's eyes as they shifted over to a sharp knife sitting on the table, then back to her.

The huntress-in-training's skin grew clammy and she felt a shiver shoot up her spine. Her aura was recovering; she just needed to bide her time until she could break the ropes. She opened her mouth, letting Neo feed her.

At least the ice cream was good. Even if she was an evil bitch, she had decent taste. Neo took a bite herself, then fed another to Yang. This repeated until Yang felt the spoon miss and a bit of ice cream got on the edge of her mouth.

Another shiver went through Yang when Neo hopped into her lap, wiping away the trail of melting ice cream then licking it off of her finger. The pink-haired girl picked the spoon back up and picked up the pace.

The evil but soft and warm body pressed against her clashed with the sweet, cold dessert.

Yang winced as as Neo kept shoveling the sundae into her. Brain-freeze was setting in quickly. Yang's eyes had been glued on everything in the room but the busty villain sitting on her. She hesitantly glanced over to Neo. There was a brief flash of concern that instantly shifted to that same smirk that always got Yang hot and bothered.

Neo grasped Yang by both cheeks, then plunged her tongue deep into the blonde girl's mouth.

Lilac eyes shot open as she felt the warmth spread through her icy mouth. Her brain-freeze was washing away in a sudden tide of very unwanted feelings. Yang struggled against her bonds for just a few moments, but her body eventually slackened.

Heavy lids began to droop as Neo continued to force a deep, passionate kiss on her. Yup– forced, totally forced.

Neo's body felt like a fluffy pillow again Yang; especially where their ample chests were pressed together. Her brain wasn't frozen anymore– it was melting. The sensation of Neo writhing against her was too much for Yang. As her emotions flared, so did her semblance; heat emanated from her in unrelenting sheets of passion. Yang's hands wrapped around Neo, then slipped down her back until she gripped the other woman's rear end.

Yang's eyes shot open in shock. She had unknowingly broken her bonds.

Her options weighed heavily in her mind. She could try to force Neo away, maybe with a throw, while it would be a surprise. Or she could keep making out with the criminal, maybe even cop a feel while it would be a surprise.

_'Come on Yang, freedom comes first,'_ she reminded herself, _'Well maybe a few more minutes couldn't hurt– no, I need to do it now.' _

Yang reached her hands up and took a solid hold on Neo's shoulders then pushed her away. "The sundae was good, but I wanna banana split." She torqued her body hard, sending the woman catapulting away.

Neo righted herself in the air just in time to flash a smirk at Yang before impacting the wall and shattering into a million pieces.

Yang took a few deep breaths as she settled her rapidly beating heart. She tossed off the remains of her ropes, then picked up her gauntlets and slid them on. Her shoulders were stiff and sore so she rolled them a few times. She would need to be prepared to fight her way out of wherever this was.

Yang took a few steps towards the door, then wheeled around to grab a cookie. She needed to get the sweet, sweet, taste of her rival out of her mouth.

She wasn't one to hesitate, so she threw the door open and charged out– only to find herself standing in her dorm room.

"Yang!" Ruby shouted, her scroll dropping to the ground as she darted over to give Yang a hug. "Where have you been!"

Yang's mouth was agape as she took her surroundings in. She turned and through the doorway behind her was the usual hallway. "I don't actually know."

"Well, I'm just glad you're back. Wait– where are your shoes?"

"That's a great question." Yang didn't want to know why her rival stole her boots– well, it'd be a lie to say she wasn't curious, but she didn't really want the answer. "I think I need some sleep."

* * *

**A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed this! Just a quick thing I wrote after watching the Neo/Yang fight. I know we always have names for everything, but I have no idea what this ship is called. But I like it.  
**


	3. The Woman in Crimson

The Woman in Crimson

Glynda had been in Mistral for two weeks, attending Sanctum Academy's final tournament of the year, and she still hadn't gotten used to its early summer sun. Sanctum was a fair distance from the main city, and resided on top of the smallest, but tallest, of a string of islands off the eastern Mistrali coast connected by bridge to a series of quaint little townships. The sun's glare stung her eyes and, because of what Glynda considered poor scheduling, there were two hours before the next match of the tournament. She made it two blocks into the town before she gave up and ducked into a little cafe with wide glass windows open to the road but shaded by a green and white striped canopy. She ordered a tea, which turned out to be too sweet, and sipped it with much disdain, checking her watch every fifteen seconds on the dot.

A woman in a short crimson sundress with a floppy white hat strode in, full of confidence. The hat clashed terribly with her dress, but the woman didn't seem to mind, and it had a certain eye drawing quality that Glynda couldn't put her finger on. The woman's beauty was not subtle, but commanding; so commanding that she didn't need a sense of fashion to be the most eye catching person in the room. She gave the waitress a once over and, with her own brand of disdain, ordered a coffee and a pastry that Glynda had never heard of. It was a flaky, delicate little mistrali thing, airy and light. When the waitress came to see if Glynda wanted another drink, she ordered one for herself.

It was very sweet and the taste lingered too long in her mouth.

Everyone who met Glynda considered her a diligent woman, most often to a fault. The joke, only whispered by her back, was that her bun held together the fabric of the universe and that if she loosened it the whole world would end. Very little could distract her from her work, and this particular duty was incredibly important. Glynda had come to Mistral to watch the students who would be graduating. She most closely observed and evaluated the tournament favorite, Pyrrha Nikos, who fought like a perfect dervish of red and gold. Glynda knew the young woman might one day inherit a great power and responsibility, but that was a long way in the future and the pastry was lingering on her tongue in the present. Her thoughts kept drifting to the woman in crimson.

The next day, during the lunch break of the semifinals, Glynda returned to the cafe. It had a certain homely air that she had ignored the day before. The accents were brass and the picture frames antique gold. Dark green wallpaper, time worn and peeling at the edges, covered the walls. There was an open bay window over the water, and cloth furniture was arranged in little cozy clumps. She slipped past the tables and sat in a large plush couch in the corner.

The women didn't come again, though from her dour expression the day before Glynda half expected it. Glynda relaxed, but kept a certain air of tension so that the waitress wouldn't try to make idle conversation. The only other people to pass through were one of the fighters from the tournament and a girl who hung on his arm.

He had lost, and lost embarrassingly, in a fight with an underdog in the seeding who had twisted and nullified his power with cunning. The fight had wounded his likely excessive pride. He wasn't so pleased with himself, but his girlfriend stuck close and kept trying to reassure him.

Glynda did, in all honestly, not care much for women, and while that girl tried to cheer up her man she began to remember why. Glynda was tall, broad, and, though she did not like the description, quite severe. She attracted a certain type of woman. Because her work and her duties kept her from meeting new people outside of the school, it was most often cloying young schoolgirls whose fancies she ignored. But even the grown women she occasionally met behaved much the same way.

They would giggle, and blush, and play up to some masculine sensibility they seemed to sense in Glynda. She would entertain them for as long as she could put up with it, because even though Glynda didn't care for women she still enjoyed them. They were just soft skin and honeyed words. When she was in the company of a woman, she would let her hair out of its bun and the world really was destroyed. At least, the world outside the room she was in. It was relaxing and she found their touches sweet and comforting. Work, life, and the threats all around her vanished.

But no matter how hard she tried to ignore it, it always reached a point where she could no longer deal with being treated like a man or a mother. It was easier, she had realized some time ago, to not grow attached in the first place. A night, a weekend, maybe a week. It was simple, easy, and just enough to keep her satisfied, to some extent.

The young couple came and left. After an hour of waiting, she thought herself silly and went to wait the rest of the break at the tournament's venue.

Glynda didn't see the woman in crimson again until the day before the final bout. She had just finished making her first contact with Miss Nikos at the girl's dormitory, to let her know that Beacon Academy was observing her and that there would likely be a place for her there the next year. She would apply more pressure to enroll after the tournament was over, but Beacon was a very prestigious academy and Glynda was certain it wouldn't take much to convince the young girl.

She was returning to her hotel when she took a detour. It was a little after sundown and Glynda was prone to taking walks at night. It was partially to relax and partially a sense of duty to maintaining order, even outside of her home kingdom. It was half stroll and half patrol. But the little village was quiet and peaceful, so it ended up as nothing but a serene walk along the shore and cobbled streets. Glynda passed a park and decided to take a look around.

The woman in crimson was sitting on a bench beside a field dotted with some foreign red flower Glynda didn't recognize. She lounged with one foot up on the bench, her arms wrapped around the knee to keep the dress closed and shadowed, and was watching the fireflies rise from the grass. She was still wearing the silly hat, even though it only shaded her from the lamppost above her.

Glynda thought a moment, then went to speak to her. "That hat is ugly."

"It was a gift from someone I don't particularly like, and who I think didn't like me very much." Her voice had a rich, smooth timbre and she drew out her words, practically exhaling them like a slow stream of cigarette smoke.

"But you still wear it anyway. May I sit? It's not the hat itself. It just doesn't suit you."

The woman in crimson took the hat off and set it gently on her lap. Glynda finally got a good, close look at the woman. Her eyes were a deep amber and seemed to glow as though lit by candle. "I can't seem to throw it away. Don't try to back down, though. It _is_ an ugly hat."

They silently watched as the fireflies danced. A few couples walked by, speaking hushed words, and one particularly loud pack of students roved along the path. They were rowdy boys, bristling with overconfidence, and nearly approached the two of them. They were sent running by a pair of heavy scowls.

The woman smiled slyly at her. "My name is Cinder."

"Glynda."

The floppy white sun hat was dropped onto Glynda's head. Cinder had stood, and the hat blocked all but the woman's long legs. Though the view was very lovely, Glynda raised her head to meet the other woman's eyes squarely for the first time.

"Oh my," Cinder said, "I can tell you, I'm so relieved. I wasn't expecting someone quite so lovely. It isn't every day that beautiful strangers approach me."

Glynda nodded at the obvious lie and didn't feel flattered in the slightest, but this woman was neither giggling nor coy. Cinder didn't smile and adjusted the hat.

"It doesn't suit you either. This is a hat for the innocent, you know? For the sort of woman with a weak constitution. The kind that covers her smiles and gets the vapors, not one who tries to pick up strange women in the park."

Cinder's words weighed heavily on Glynda. What am I doing, she thought. This woman was a complete stranger, though a beautiful stranger, whom she knew nothing of. For all she knew this woman could be crazy, or a criminal. There was nothing sweet and innocent about her to dissuade the possibility. There was an almost intentional mysteriousness in her sweeping slow movements, the gooey heat of her voice, and the mask of deceit on her smile. This woman would be troublesome.

"Your place or mine?"

Perhaps, Glynda thought, it doesn't matter.

* * *

The next morning, for one of the first times in Glynda's life, she was late. Her habit was to leave before daybreak or to be dressed before whoever she was with woke up. But that morning she dressed slowly, impeded by a woman draped over her back. Cinder's arms weren't particularly strong, but made up for it with insistence.

It wasn't a clingy act, but rather a domineering one. There was no soft whining whisper in Glynda's ear, or earnest wishes to be called again. "I'll come again," Cinder sung gently with the side of her smirk pressed to Glynda's ear. "I'll come again because I know you want me."

Glynda missed the first few minutes of the fight. Pyrrha won her fourth tournament in a row, and Glynda came down from the stands while the bulbs were still flashing and pulled the young girl aside. Miss Nikos was young and, like all young people, had mixed eagerness to leave home and an unwillingness to part with what she knew. Glynda could have pressed harder, and getting the girl to beacon was important, but she relaxed and told Pyrrha they would talk again in private.

Outside the venue, Glynda called her boss and told her she'd need to stay in Mistral a few more days.

Instead of returning to her hotel, she returned to the little cafe. Her thoughts kept drifting to her night with Cinder, and the power that wafted off of her. It inspired a certain pliability that Glynda couldn't explain. She tried to change the way she was feeling. She tamped it down and tried not to think about the woman's warm lips or her forceful touches. Glynda had no shortage of feeling desired, but Cinder didn't just want, she took. There was darkness in the woman's eyes, her mannerisms, and her smile. Glynda tried to focus on that, but it didn't help.

Glynda wanted Cinder, darkness and all. Perhaps it's because of the darkness, she thought, but she wanted to ignore that possibility. The woman was beautiful and powerful. Her tongue was hot as fire and her eyes were piercing in the dark. The thought made Glynda's toes curl against the bottom of her shoes.

Early that afternoon there was a knock on her door, and Cinder strode into the room like it was hers, without a word. Her heels clicked on the tiles, and her dress rustled as it fell to the floor, leaving pool of crimson fabric. Glynda could hear her own heart in her ears.

It wasn't until the sun was setting that Cinder began to talk; whether lies or truth Glynda didn't know and, for some reason, didn't question. But Glynda wasn't planning on being forthcoming either. They were strangers passing a few nights together in a foreign country, and it would never be more. Though she could have said anything she wanted, Glynda couldn't bring herself to lie completely to Cinder.

"What do you do for a living?" Cinder asked, after formally establishing why Glynda was in the country.

She was stretched out on the opposite end of the bed, her sundress traded out for Glynda's blouse. The white shear fabric clung to the sheen of sweat on her tanned skin. The neck was undone, and the already low sweeping neckline fell much further on the other woman. Glynda found it difficult to find words. But of course, Cinder was wearing her shirt and had left her nothing to wear. The other woman seemed to be having just as much trouble focusing. Her amber eyes dropped low, and Glynda could feel her gaze sweeping up and down her body.

"I'm a teacher," she settled on. "I teach secondary school. The tournament is just– a hobby, I suppose. What about you?"

Cinder didn't seem to buy the answer, but she just smiled and nodded. "I'm between things. I thought I'd take a vacation. I've been here two weeks, and it has been oh so boring. I didn't think I'd find such a– lovely way to entertain myself."

That night they ate at a restaurant on a side street that Cinder claimed Glynda would enjoy. It was dark and intimate, with a shadowy view of the ocean dimly lit by the shattered moon. Quiet and private people dined inside, so there was scarcely more than the sound of clinking silverware over the classical music. The waiters moved with a perfect posture and took orders quietly and with a highbrow sort of speech before vanishing without fanfare.

Cinder ordered herself a fine wine and, ignoring Glynda's insistence that she didn't drink, ordered her a fruity sounding mistrali cocktail. The drink came later, garnished with a slice of pineapple and a little umbrella, but it had a sharp sour finish. After a few refills, some of the tension began to fall out of Glynda's shoulders. When they walked back to the hotel, Glynda took Cinder's hand in a firm grip. It was a lovely night.

Over the next few days, she began to learn that Cinder had lovely taste. Together they visited quiet haunts that Cinder had found. A quiet arch ringed with flowers. A shadowed beach far from the noise of the rocks. A little unlocked bell tower where they could see the sun setting. Glynda worried that each parting may have been the last, but the woman would come knocking again and again.

Each day, they walked and talked. At first, Cinder had a habit of silence, which suited Glynda fine. But with a little plying, Glynda found she could get the woman to begin to wax philosophical about anything. It was clear that Cinder preferred to keep her opinions to herself and didn't seem to enjoy sharing them. Glynda wondered if she held some special significance and if she was the only one who was privy to Cinder's inner thoughts. She began to get used to the cadence of Cinder's voice, and could tell when she was being sincere. Cinder liked to lie.

Their opinions were very different. Glynda embraced order; Cinder heralded chaos. Glynda liked rules; Cinder liked freedom. Cinder would tirade, then Glynda would lecture softly in response with an anecdote, from her life or history. Cinder had many insights, and she was a brilliant and rational woman, but she didn't have the same sort of life experience and knowledge that dampened the wild passions and combative attitude of youth. That fire of youth fueled Cinder, and Glynda realized that she was a fair bit older than her.

As they spoke, it became clear that Cinder had only yet experienced the darkest aspects of life, or perhaps just too much of them. Glynda could sense the undercurrents on her words and opinions, and she had seen it many times before. Nothing had gone well in the woman's childhood. Whether it was bad luck, bad karma, or self destruction, Glynda didn't know. All she knew was that life had been cruel to Cinder. But Glynda knew time could bring balance, or destroy the woman completely.

Cinder would look guilty for a moment, and nod, and argue. Her passion was infectious and they would quietly debate as they walked. Glynda usually thought arguing was exhausting, but she enjoyed every moment of it. The friction was powerful and magnetic.

The week passed all too quickly.

"Why do you keep coming to me?" Glynda asked, as the sun began to set, signaling her final night in Mistral. They were going to circle back to the hotel room soon. Glynda had yet to tell Cinder that she was leaving; Pyrrha had submitted her enrollment paperwork for Beacon, and it was time to return to Vale.

"I'm not sure myself. I suppose it's because you're such a rare beauty. Very tall. I like making big, strong women putty in my hands." Her voice had that sharpness that masked her intentions. "But, I suppose, I keep coming because– I don't know."

"I know you think you're a good liar, but I've heard hundreds and hundreds of excuses. Good and bad. One student had the gall to tell me their dog ate their homework. Your 'I don't know' is flimsy."

"Well I don't want to say. You know, I didn't think you were really a teacher," Cinder said. "You approached me because I'm beautiful, right? Is it so hard to think that I keep coming for a similar reason?"

"I'm leaving tomorrow," Glynda said, "I wish I didn't have to."

"It's summer. All the little kiddies will be out doing whatever it is they do. Even teachers need to spend time doing _grown up_ things. Why do you need to leave?"

"There are other matters I need to attend to. Being a teacher is more than just teaching. Are you sure you don't want to tell me why you keep coming? I'll be gone soon."

"It's because you'll be gone soon that I won't be saying the reason. I knew it when I first saw you, back in that coffee shop. But I also knew that this was a temporary thing. Brief. It'll just be a wonderful memory for us. It's best if I don't say it."

Glynda nodded, and she understood. "If that's the way you want it, then I won't say it either. But I think our reasons are the same."

Cinder smiled, and they held hands as they returned to the hotel.

* * *

It had grown in Glynda's heart, despite her intent to avoid it. It wasn't like a flower, no matter how hard poets tried to cast it as such. It was a weed, a thistle, wild bramble, painful to touch, impossible to grasp. Its roots were deep and now matter how many leaves were plucked, it grew wildly and viciously. Vicious, vicious coils had wrapped her, fast and tight. That weed strangled her heart.

Months passed, summer came and went, and never did the thoughts about the woman in crimson leave her. She prepared for school, reviewed more candidates, recruited more students. Each night, she'd walk the streets of Vale, or Vacuo, or whatever city she found herself. She'd think about Cinder. The not so subtle sway in her walk, the not so subtle heat in her talk. It came to a point the night she tried to stop a dust store robbery. Amber eyes peered out at her from the shade of a bullhead.

For a moment, Glynda thought it might have been her. She never learned what Cinder did, or what Cinder really wanted. Glynda thought it was a silly thought. Everything reminded her of Cinder. Every red, whether the cloak of a student or the leaves of the Forever Fall forest, turned crimson in her eyes. Gold melted to amber. Glynda longed to see the woman in crimson again– to feel the warmth of her body, to soak in the steam of breath, to taste the spice of her kiss.

A specter of the woman haunted her, she found, when the Vytal festival began. It wasn't crimson or gold, but loose swatch of dark hair and a tilt of the hips that bore a striking familiarity. Every so often she'd catch a glimpse of that ghost in the halls. But she ignored it, until she passed too close one day.

It was Cinder, in a uniform for a school she was too old to attend. It hadn't been her imagination again; her desires hadn't been twisting her perceptions. It was Cinder. Glynda waited patiently as long as she could, but eventually she crept close and tugged Cinder into an empty classroom.

"I thought you taught secondary school?" Cinder asked once they were alone. "Are you a huntress?"

"I'm a professor here, and yes, I am also a huntress. You aren't a student."

Cinder tried to think of something. Her eyes flicked left and right as she attempted to weave some story in her mind. If she succeeded, she decided not to use it. "No, I'm not."

"So why are you here?"

"Would you believe me if I said to see you?"

"Not even a little. You didn't know I was here. You don't even know my last name. I should be concerned, I should question your motives, or your disguise. But I don't want to. I am just so relieved that I get to see you again."

"Would you believe that, if nothing else, that you've been on my mind constantly? That I've been hoping to see you? That I regret every day that I didn't ask for you number? Or where to find you? Would you believe that I regret not saying what I needed to when I still had the chance?"

Glynda could tell when Cinder was lying. She wasn't. The two stood silently for a moment. Cinder stepped forward and wrapped her arms around the taller woman. Glynda leaned down and stole a kiss, and another, and another.

When they separated, Glynda crossed the room to the desk, stole a notecard and pen from Professor Oobleck, and began to write. She stuffed the note into Cinder's hand.

"You don't have to tell me why you're here."

Cinder straightened out the notecard and saw Glynda's address and the number for her personal scroll. Her lips twisted, and whether it was into a smirk or a smile Glynda didn't know.

Glynda knew Cinder was wrong for her. There was just something irresistible about a bad girl. The secrets would be painful, but bearable. Whatever Cinder was hiding would be more bearable than the time apart had been, and more bearable than thinking she'd never see Cinder again. But Glynda knew they both had secrets to keep and it was simply the way it was and would be.

Cinder was wrong, but no one else would be right. There would never come a woman she trusted enough to tell about her real duties– her real job. Glynda didn't trust the woman in crimson.

But she did love her.


	4. The Morning After

The Morning After

It was early in the morning, and the male members of team BRNZ were already in the dining hall enjoying the fresh breakfast provided by the school they were visiting. The hall buzzed with energy, of teams ready to fight and students ready to watch them. Of course, they had been eliminated, but they still planned on watching the rest of the tournament.

The only one who took their loss very hard was May, who had vanished the night before. None of them worried about her. May vanished most nights, tournament or no, good mood or bad, and usually came back with an embarrassed blush and stories that promised to astonish, when they could manage to drag them out of her. They agreed that they needed to something to lighten their spirits, and spent their meal trying to make guesses at what hijinks May may have gotten herself into.

They smiled and bristled with excitement when May finally arrived, still dressed in the clothes she was wearing the day before.

"So, what sort of trouble did you make for yourself?" Brawnz asked as she sat beside them.

May cheeks turned a whole new color of red, and the shade of her blush was usually a good indicator of how wild her night was. She didn't seem to have an appetite. The buffet style eggs, already an unappetizing yellow chunky substance, looked far less appetizing when they were pushed around absentmindedly into the shape of a frowning face. "I don't want to talk about it."

The boys knew the story must be fantastic. They weren't a rowdy bunch– if they were, it would have been a nightmare for the lone, innocent (so she claimed, but they knew better), girl to live with them. Two had committed girlfriends back in their hometowns, and the last was sweet on a girl who went to school with them back in Vacuo. They were polite gentlemen who wouldn't step an inch out of line on their own, which made them all the more eager to live vicariously through the wild stories of their single friend, who had better luck and talent with ladies then any of them.

"Okay, first of all, I am totally, one hundred percent straight," she said.

They all leaned forward, because that was the signal she was about to start. All her stories started with 'I am totally, one hundred percent straight,' without fail. The boys were certain that if a child asked her to tell them a story, she'd mix up 'once upon a time,' with 'I am totally, one hundred percent straight,' which even the kids wouldn't believe. Her stories were, without fail, zero percent straight.

There were two reasonable explanations they came up with. Either May was a lesbian and awful at staying in the closet, or she was straight and hilariously terrible at actually being straight. They couldn't decide which would be funnier.

May clamped her mouth shut and froze, which only told them it was more epic than any of the stories they had heard before, which were already very epic. The only predictable pattern in her stories was she somehow ended up drunk, despite very, very rarely making the conscious decision to drink. Though in truth, their two favorite stories didn't involve alcohol.

In one, May had gone to use the lavatory on an airplane. When the woman before her was stepping out and she was about to step in, the plane hit turbulence. They both tumbled in, and after a few minutes of the plane bobbing wildly in the air, May returned to her seat beside Roy, out of breath and red faced, gripping a slip of paper on which the woman had scribbled her phone number and the name of the hotel where she was staying.

The other involved helping one their professors, known by her nickname 'Professor Short Skirt,' carry a stack of graded tests. They got tangled and tripped down a long, winding set of stairs, and by the time May landed flat on her back on the ground, and the professor on top of her, she had earned an A in a course she wasn't signed up for.

Though they hoped the current tale didn't start with May getting drunk on accident, they knew that they had to ease her into telling what happened. So, Roy asked, "at the least, tell us how you ended up doing whatever it is you did."

May finally nodded. "Okay, and again, I'm straight, but I was in this bar called Jane's Clam Shack–,"

"Going to venture a guess that there weren't a lot of straight girls, or guys, at a bar called Jane's Clam shack," Nolan said, "so why the hell would you go in there?"

"Yeah. The big ol' neon clam on the roof was kind of a dead giveaway. But I thought I saw one of the girls we fought heading in. Turned out it wasn't her. You see, the girl I thought was one of those girls was like– thirty– and taller– and blonder. But, I had only caught a glimpse, and thought it would be nice to have a chance talk to them. You know, just about the fight and stuff. I just had to follow her.

"Anyways, so I followed her into Jane's Clam Shack, and figured out that it wasn't her. It was when I was looking around that bar, that I realized I had this scratchy feeling in my throat, because I had walked pretty far trying to catch up to the girl I thought was one of the girls we fought. It was going to be a long walk back to Beacon, especially since I still don't really know the town all that well, so I went up to the bar just to get a glass of water. I swear, I just wanted some water.

"Well, I get there, and then the bartender slides this drink to me. This cold, delicious looking milkshake, topped with whipped cream and drizzled with chocolate syrup. I remember watching the condensation drip down the frosty cup and thinking, boy, that would hit the spot. She tells me it's from the girl at the end of the bar. It looked so cool and refreshing and it was such a nice gesture that I thought it would be rude to refuse it. You know how I hate being rude."

The boys knew that she hated being rude, which usually translated into her accepting drinks or invitations into beds. It was one of those little things that made May such an accidental ladykiller.

"Turns out it was a mudslide. Which, while mostly a chocolate milkshake, is actually like half Kahlua and Irish cream. You know how it goes from there."

They all nodded, because once May got a little drunk, she'd always get a lot drunk. Which meant she most likely hooked up with someone at the Clam Shack. Though, none of them knew why May was so much more embarrassed than normal.

The morning had dragged on, and May always spoke sort of slowly, taking long gaps to catch her breath and tamp her embarrassment. The dining hall had grown more full, and noisy. The doors constantly swung opened and closed, letting in a sea of mostly unfamiliar faces. Until the doors opened and revealed four familiar faces. The team of famously lovely and attractive girls from Shade Academy, NDGO. The quartet of beauties rarely failed to draw the eyes of everyone in every room they entered.

May, whose eye was sharper than the rest, spotted them first, and shrank down into herself in an earnest attempt to go unnoticed. The boys saw it, and recognized it, but the sad fact was May very rarely went unnoticed by girls.

They passed by team BRNZ's table in a quick and eager fashion. They tried to mask it beneath a breezy facade, swinging their hips and moving as smoothly as possible, but it was clearly a lie. There was no hesitation and zero nonchalance in their intent.

"Which one do you think she did," Roy asked.

They crowded around her, each sweeping a hand somewhere on her body in an easy and intimate manner as they passed.

"Oh no. She didn't. Tell me she didn't."

"She did."

"Good morning, sweetie," Nebula said. She was the leader, and clearly spoke for her entire team. "We were so surprised to find you gone this morning."

May shrugged, and flipped her head, making the little locks of hair she let dangle from her hat flick across her uncovered eye in an alluring little sweep. When she spoke, her voice was deeper and huskier than normal. "Had plans with the boys," she said.

Nebula was disappointed, as was her team, and she shrugged, but clearly thought a little more touch and a little persistence may earn her more favor. Her hand began to slip down from May's shoulder until it seemed like she was draped over her back. "That's okay, we knew what we were getting into, didn't we, ladies? But, it was a really great– team bonding exercise. I'd imagine our team coordination would only get better with more practice. You're welcome to stop by our room whenever you feel up to it."

"Yeah, maybe. I'm sure it'd be fun, but I keep pretty busy," May said with another flick of her hair. The boys could tell the little motion stoked a raging fire in the girls that they wished they knew how to even kindle.

"Don't be a stranger," Nebula said as she left, "and don't think that invitation ends when we go back to Shade. Anytime, sweetie, anytime."

They each said a farewell and batted their eyelashes at May, who gave them a courteous smile while staying mostly uninterested, and her attitude continued to pour on some oddly seductive charm that made them giggle at her.

Nolan was the first to speak when the girls were out of earshot. "What. Was. That."

They all stared at May expectantly, while she glanced around confused. "I was trying to seem cold and disinterested. I read that girls hate that."

"That wasn't cold and disinterested. That was cool and aloof and mysterious. Is that how you always act? Because I'm starting to see why you end up with so many girls."

"Do you really think that's what it is? How do I stop doing it?"

They shared a look. The boys of team BRNZ did enjoy hearing about May's exploits, and none of them were sure whether or not May actually enjoyed them. They figured if a person kept stepping on rocks and didn't like it, they might put on a pair of boots instead of getting drunk and running down cobblestone streets. May didn't seem to put any effort into not sleeping with girls. But, they were still her friends, and if she wanted to try on some boots, the least they could do was give her some socks, and maybe help lace them up.

"Okay, okay," Brawnz said first. He was the leader, and took the lead. "Let's try this. You're going to go over to them again, but this time I want you to be the exact opposite of what you just were."

It took some cajoling and support from her team to finally get her to make an attempt, along with a physical nudge in NDGO's direction.

A few moments after she set out, Roy turned to Brawnz with a concerned expression. "Hey, wouldn't the opposite of cold and aloof be warm and interested?"

They all shared a horrified look.

She chatted with them for a few minutes. May was more visibly nervous, her cheeks red and her exposed eye more shaded than usually. She seemed to stumble over words. The boys immediately saw the problem. May was acting too damn adorable for her own good. They at least hoped that since NDGO were attracted by May acting like a mysterious beauty, they would be turned away by the shy act. May shook her head. Then nodded. Then she came back to their table despondent.

"They're now my girlfriends."

"What? Girlfriends?" Brawnz asked.

"Yeah. They collectively decided that it was sweet that I was trying to act cool, and that I must like them a lot to come clean, and then they collectively decided they wanted to date me, collectively."

"But why would you agree?"

"I got mixed up and answered wrong. They got me with one of those would-you-mind traps. And they got so excited and happy, I couldn't just take it back. It would have been rude. "

"Okay. That didn't work."

May looked displeased with herself, and the boys figured that even if she really was gay, having four girlfriends would be a headache, no matter how attractive and accepting of the situation they were. Just one was enough trouble for them, and having four, while it may sound like some teenage dream, would likely be a nightmare in reality.

Roy chimed in this time. "I got it. They're your girlfriends, right? So they'll be really mad if they see you hit on another girl. So what you gotta do is hit on the next girl who comes in the door."

May seemed interested in the idea, for a moment, then shook her head. "But what about the girl I hit on? I think the odds favor her liking me."

They nodded, surprised at the moment of self awareness from the normally oblivious girl. Roy snapped his fingers. "You gotta be real nerdy. Like, go way overboard talking about one really weird interest."

That idea seemed reasonable, and May finally agreed to the plan. But they had trouble deciding what she was going to talk about. Her interests simply weren't nerdy enough. May was a talented athlete (softball and field hockey, of course), played acoustic guitar with a lovely and raspy voice to back it up, and loved to cook and bake. Her macaron was praised by the finest confectioners in Vacuo as the best in the kingdom. They were a pair of sisters who ran an award winning bakery, whom she slept with after sampling what turned out to be a rum filled chocolate ball. It never occurred to the boys that the sisters might not be talking about a literal cookie.

Roy snapped his fingers. "Guns. You're obsessed with guns. My girlfriend hates when I talk about weapons. If you go up to a girl and can't shut up about guns, they'll think you're a giant nerd and you'll get shot down."

"You're sure?"

"Definitely."

May nodded, and watched the door. The morning had dragged on, and there was no longer a crowd. NDGO seemed to still be eating, though they were likely slowed by the constant glances towards May, who hadn't noticed. The only people who would be coming to the dining hall would be the late risers. The next girl who came into the hall usually woke early, but had allowed herself to sleep as a reward for a good performance in the first round of the tournament. She looked young, even for a first year student, but May still steeled herself and decided to go through with the plan.

May stood from her seat and approached Ruby Rose, who was checking her scroll to see when her own team would be arriving.

"Ah shit," Nolan said. "This is a combat academy. The girls here are huntresses in training. I'd bet twenty bucks you couldn't find a girl here that _wasn't _interested in guns. Hell, there's probably a few who are just as obsessed over guns as her."

In the distance, May pointed at the girl's weapon, and the girl proudly unsheathed it and let it transform into a large rifle. Playing her part well, May fawned over it, showing Ruby her own weapon. They spoke, and their hands waved wildly, and their high pitched excited squeaks echoed through the large hall. The plan was a complete failure; not only was the girl very much interested, but the moment May made her move Octavia had received a message on her scroll, with an attached picture of her little brothers new puppy, and team NDGO completely missed the whole event.

May returned with a dejected look. "I'm going to an underground weapon shop with and getting dinner afterward. Don't give me that look, they carry a brand of parts I've been looking for forever! She knew how excited I was to find it, it would have been very rude to say no."

There was a collective groan, and May banged her head against the table. Her team felt especially bad, because their intervention seemed to only be making things worse, which led them questioning why they themselves had such difficulty with girls, their own courtships having been awkward and long but much more romantic tales. Though they knew what worked for May would never work for themselves.

Nolan came up with an idea he thought might be extreme enough to help May actually repel a girl. "Next girl who walks in, just walk up and slap her ass. Get a big handful of that booty."

May looked horrified, as did Brawnz and Roy. But soon enough the other boys nodded. "No girl could enjoy that," they confirmed.

"I don't know, I don't mind when girls do that to me," May answered without thinking, "When I'm drunk. Only when I'm drunk. Because I'm straight," she added with a quick and squeaky voice.

They insisted it would work. The other girls would all think her a pig. Her date would be canceled. Her girlfriends would break up with her. It was foolproof, they claimed, and shoved her up and towards the door when it swung open and a blonde with long messy hair strolled in, looking around for her team.

May took a deep gulp and walked across the room. Her hand was in the air when Ruby received a message from Blake that she'd be coming to breakfast soon and Octavia received a video of the puppy sleeping curled into the family cat. The hand hit. May had given Yang a big open hand pat on the rear, her hand having slipped beneath the hanging layers of cloth right into Yang's tight stretchy shorts, and she let it linger solely to make the act seem more genuine and certainly not because of how the soft but firm flesh felt.

The girl grabbed May by the ear and dragged her over to a table, flinging her down angrily. May, and her whole team, watched with fear as the girl silently huffed over may, the air whistling through her nose like a bull seeing red. But Yang looked her up and down, and let her anger out in the form of a sigh. The boys hearts began to feel icy, and they had a feeling that this was about to go as wrong as the other plans.

"You're lucky," Yang said, "that I'm not pounding you into the ground."

May blinked. "It worked? It worked! Finally, a girl who doesn't find me ridiculously attractive."

Yang snorted. "Well it sounds like you think pretty highly of yourself. I'll admit, you're kinda cute, almost cute enough that I wouldn't mind you harassing me a bit, but you remind me too much of my sister." Yang pointed a thumb over at Ruby, who was busy responding to the message from Blake.

"Huh? I don't really think I look anything like her."

Yang looked May up and down again, and suddenly May didn't like the glint in her eye.

"Wait, I didn't say that. I look just like her. The two of us could be twins."

Yang had already sat beside May, and was leaning into her, her own little move that showcased her best assets. "I don't normally like such forward girls. By the way, what did you think of my shorts? Know what they're made of?"

May shook her head, confused more than anything. Yang grabbed her hand and brought it down onto the black fabric.

"Girlfriend material."

The message to Blake had been sent, and the girls of team NDGO had seen enough cute puppy, and suddenly the whole dining hall descended into chaos. Ruby jumped first, shouting at her sister, and soon the two began to argue with May in the middle. Then, the four girls of team NDGO piled in and threatened both of them to stay away from their girlfriend, shocking and confusing the two other girls, but not enough for them to relent.

May slipped away from the mob of girls fighting over her and back to her table. "I hate you guys. No more help. I mean it, your advice is terrible."

"I think it would have worked for anyone but you," Brawnz said, a sentiment his teammates echoed. "You're not just a girl magnet. You're like some sort of nuclear powered lesbian electromagnet. If we throw a girl anywhere in your general direction she sticks right to you."

May's fingertips went wormed their way into the rim of her beanie, but she didn't pull it down yet. Behind her, the door busted open and two more girls marched in. One was Blake, whom May had met in Beacon's library on her first night in Vale. She had accidentally eaten vodka infused gummy bears at a welcome party without realizing, and thought she may not end up in a strange girl's bed if she went somewhere boring. It hadn't worked. Blake saw her but didn't wave out of embarrassment. The other May hadn't met yet.

Weiss set out to scold her teammates, and even spat a few choice comments towards NDGO about poorly representing their academy. She dragged Yang and Ruby apart, and manage to cool the situation.

The boys of BRNZ saw Weiss, and felt no stirrings of attraction. They knew she was a beauty, even if she was lacking in certain places, but there was simply no reaction in them. It was the same void of attraction they felt towards May, who barely seemed like a girl to them. It was one of the great mysteries of her popularity.

The truth was May had a face perfectly between 'handsome' and 'cute,' cut in such a way that the angle you saw her from and her attitude and mood at the time could completely change the quality of her looks to whatever type a girl might like. It made May like a magical mirror that always showed girls only what they desired, completely by accident if one was inclined to believe her. Around her team, she was so nonchalant that she came across as very plain and shy. Still, their lack of attraction to the beautiful white haired girl seemed very odd.

May hadn't noticed that the fight had ended. She told her teammates "I should say something," and turned to intervene. Then _she_ caught sight of Weiss.

Her team, who could only see May's back, could see her take one, long, huge breath, so large her shoulders rose and didn't come back down and so deep it almost felt as though there was a little less air in the room. May scurried back to the table and properly pulled her hat down over her eyes. Her face turned a deep crimson. She released her breath in one long and slow and smooth puff. Brawnz, who sat closest to May, swore he could see her rapid pulse in her neck.

"Guys, I think I might be gay."


End file.
